Zuko's Long Night
by A Rozen Dream
Summary: Set between the episode where Zuko and Iroh split up and 'Zuko Alone' in the secon season. this is between Zuko and my own character. Zuko is wondering around on the brink of starvation when a girl finds him. Working on a Sequal called 'Iroh Alone'
1. Chapter 1

My stomach growled for the 5th time this morning, I was starving and exhausted from traveling so far on so little. I hadn't seen a single village or person in days and I had given up hope despite what uncle Iroh had said to me, the sun was beaming down on me making me feel even worse, I was even starting to hallucinate.

I thought I could see people in the distance laughing and joking as they ate and drank, my ostrich horse slowly walked past them, it wasn't until they started snickering at me and whispering to each other about me that I lost it. Hallucination or not I wasn't going to let these people get away with it. I more or less jumped from the ostrich horse and started to fire bend at them but they started to fight back, I got knocked down but I quickly got back up, these were no hallucinations.

I was weak from lack of food and water so they had the upper hand but I wasn't going to lose to them, I could hear someone shouting, it sounded like a girl but I couldn't see anyone around. I continued to fight ignoring the voice but then something hit me in the head. I turned around rubbing my head and saw a girl standing there carrying a basket of fruit.

"What do you think you're doing!" she shouted at me

She was wearing the clothes of someone from the earth kingdom villages, her hair was a light brown, her skin was fairly pale considering the lack of shelter that was around and her eyes were a dark emerald green. She dropped her basket on the ground then closed her eyes and took a deep breath with her hands out to her side a little, her eyes opened and her hands slowly started to lift in a clawing motion.

There was a crashing bang sound behind me then water started to spray everywhere, it didn't last too long but it was long enough to snap me out of my daze. I looked around and was surprised to see that I was in a forest and behind me I had nearly burnt it all down.

"Water bender" I said shocked

"Water bender?" she asked confused at first but that didn't last long

"I'm not a water bender I'm an earth bender" she laughed at me picking up her basket "there is a river underground, I just used earth bending to lift the water up"

She was laughing at me and she had every right to, I must have looked horrible, first I was fighting people that weren't there then I nearly lit the forest on fire and lastly I thought she was a water bender. As I was going over these stupid moments of mine I realised something, she had witnessed me fire bending but had yet to say a word about it.

"You know you don't look so good, how about we go get you something to eat? I can feed your ostrich horse to"

"No I have to be on my way"

I went to walk away but my feet wouldn't move, I looked down at them and saw rock covering my feet.

"It's not that far from here, you don't even have to eat with me, you can just take something and leave if you want"

My stomach growled and my hand flew to it trying to quiet it down but it was no use, just the mention of food made my stomach long for something, anything so I agreed to going with her. She released my feet and I followed her through the forest, she said it wasn't far but we had been walking for a good 5 minutes.

"How far is this house of yours?"

"It's just up ahead... I think"

"You think?"

"Well it was either this way or back the way we came..."

I wanted to just leave there and then but to my surprise we came to a house made out of rock.

"Ah here it is, see I told you it was here"

She made a door and walked in, it was a fairly simple house; there was a dining area, the kitchen, one bedroom and another small area that didn't really have anything in it.

"You sit down and I'll get you something to eat and drink... I'm afraid I mostly only have fruit, I wasn't expecting company"

I sat down on the floor near the table, the second she placed a cup of water in front of me I quickly gulped it down so she poured me another and laid down a plate that had all these weird looking fruits on it.

"The pink grapes are the best" she smiled

I eagerly ate everything she sat in front of me without a second thought then once I was finally full I was ready to leave.

"Thank you for the food" I muttered standing

"Oh you're leaving already?"

"Yes"

"But it will be dark soon and there are all kinds of bad things out in the dark"

"Its only morning"

"The forest is different, it gets dark by lunch and you can't see a thing in front of you"

"I'll be fine"

"But it looks like it's going to rain! I wouldn't want you to catch a cold"

"_What is with this girl?"_

I ignored her silly comments about all the crazy things that she said would happen to me if I left and hoped on my ostrich horse. Not long after I left I noticed it was getting dark pretty fast and there were a lot of strange noises then it started to rain. I ended up back at her house and with a frown I knocked on her door, it quickly opened with her standing there with a huge grin on her face.

"Back so soon?" she asked tilting her head to the side a little

I walked past her and sat down near the table with a frown, just because I was stuck here didn't mean I was going to talk or do anything. She sat down across from me and just stared at me, I ignored it for as long as I could but after a while I snapped.

"WHAT!"

"I've never met a fire bender before"

"You haven't?"

"Nah of course I have" she laughed "fire nation soldiers are everywhere..."

"I'm not like fire nation soldiers"

"I know you're not, your prince Zuko"

I was surprised to hear that she knew of me, this place seemed so isolated from the world and even if she did hear about me then why was she helping me?

"When I first saw you I wasn't too sure but that scar... well it was easy to tell from that"

"Why are you helping me?"

"Just because you're the fire lord's son doesn't mean your anything like him, I was taught to give people the benefit of doubt"

"You will get yourself killed doing that"

"Maybe" she shrugged

She didn't seem too concerned about death.

"So how about lunch? With this rain were bound to get some fish, if you're willing to work for it that is"

"_Some fish would be nice..."_

"What do you want me to do?" I asked standing

"Come over here" she smiled

I walked closer towards her but she kept calling me closer and closer until I could feel the warmth of her body.

"Perfect"

For a moment I thought I saw a spark in her eyes but before I had time to think too much about it the ground started to fall into the floor. We kept falling until we reached a hidden underground cave; there were these rocks that glowed above us reflecting in the rippling water making the cave light enough to make out where the land and water meet and only bits and pieces of the things around us. We landed on the ground and walked towards the water stopping at the edge.

"Wow" I half gasped

"I was born here you know"

"You were?"

I turned away from the water to look at her, there was just enough light to see a small smile slowly appearing.

"Your lying aren't you" I asked flatly

"Yep" she giggled facing me "couldn't help myself"

I frowned at her and looked back out at the water.

"I wasn't born here but I was found here"

"Uhuh" there was no way I'm falling for another one of her lies

"I don't remember much but I do remember my mum and dads voices telling me to run, I was only 4 at the time..."

She actually sounded serious so I carefully looked at her trying not to make it obvious but she was staring out at the glistening water and her face was cold, expressionless, I got the feeling this time she wasn't lying.

"What happened?"

"Fire nation soldiers, every 5 or so years they would come to the town and take away all earth benders to use for their own good and well I was an earth bender. Mum and dad tried to keep it a secret but how can you get a 4 year to no bend? It's like asking them to not walk so of course the soldiers found out and when they came for me mum and dad put up a fight"

"What would the fire nation want with earth benders?"

"Kill us, put us to work, send us to jail, turn us into slaves and brainwash the young, you know the usual"

I lowered my head, it was true that all these things happened in the war but hearing about it happening to innocent children who have yet to do anything just seemed wrong to me.

"No need to look so guilty, you weren't there"

I looked up and saw her smiling at me; I couldn't understand how she could be so forgiving.

"What happened next?"

"Well the rest is a bit fuzzy, they told me to run but I wouldn't. I trapped my parents in a rock bubble to protect them but it crumbled... I guess they had earth benders with them but then next thing I know I'm here all alone miles from my family and my home. I don't know how long I was here until I was found, but they raised me good, they were a mum and dad to me even if they weren't my real parents"

"Where are they?"

"They died 8 years ago"

"I'm sorry... wait so you have been alone all this time?"

"Of course not, I see travellers sometimes and I go to the towns around here a lot"

"No I mean you have been living on your own... since then?"

"Yeah but I've never been lonely, I love it out here, there is no fighting, no war and down here there is nothing but the calmness of the water, nothing in the outside world matters anymore. So that's my sad little story, what about yours?"

"Mine?"

"Yeah, fire nation prince isn't wandering around half starved for no reason... what happened?"

"I don't want to talk about it"

"I just told you my whole life story and you won't even tell me a little bit! That's not fair at all, just for that you're going to have to clean the fish"

"How are we meant to catch fish if we can't see?"

"trust me when they get here you will see them, how about this, if I catch the most then... you cook me lunch and you catch the most then ill cook you lunch and ill even make some food for you to take with you, so you don't nearly starve again, deal?"

"How are we meant to catch the fish?"

"Oh right, of course, it's not a fair bet if you don't know what you're doing"

She stomped one of her feet and a bit of the glowing rock fell into her hands, she moulded the rock into a fish shape then set it on the ground.

"Pretend this is a fish and you're going to catch it"

"Why do I need to pretend? Isn't that what I'm going to do?"

"Your good at this" she smiled brightly "ok so all you have to do is stand completely still and the fish will come to you then you just grab it, let's practice"

She started to move the rock fish in slow swaying motions, it was really slow and boring but every time I moved towards it or just shifted my weight she made it dart away then a few seconds later slowly come back.

"There's no way the fish are like this" I said after a while

"Sure they are, it's always the lazy ones that get down here" she said mater of factly

After a while I eventually caught the rock fish and she cheered.

"Ok now you have it let's get going, we want to be standing before they get here"

She started to undo the ribbon that was keeping her clothes together; I couldn't help myself from getting red.

"What?" she asked ever so innocently

"Umm what are you doing?"

She looked down at what she was doing then started laughing "I have a swim suit on underneath"

"Oh"

Once her clothes were off she started to walk into the water, the water looked really deep and she wasn't exactly the tallest person alive but somehow the water stayed below her waist, even when she was standing in the middle of the water.

"_Earth bending"_ I decided

"Well hurry up" She called out

I took of my jacket and my shirt but left my pants on, being a fire bender my clothes tend to dry fairly fast anyway. I left them where they fell not bothering to fold them like she did then took off my socks and shoes then went in the water. The water was surprisingly warm so I walked out further waiting any minute for there to be some kind of sudden drop but it just slowly descended until it was a little higher than my knees.

"So... where are you going anyway? I mean there is nowhere around for half a day's walk from here, the way I found you I doubt you would have made it"

I silently glared at her; it was embarrassing being found attacking invisible people.

"And you know I wouldn't want to go to that town if I were you anyway, there are some extremely rude people there. These so called 'guards' tried taking away some guys hard earned stuff but I wasn't going to let that happen, no sir, they came at me with knifes and things but it's no match for me"

"Heh"

"What's so funny?"

"You don't strike me as a fighter"

"Oh I'm not, I mean I didn't fight them... it's not my fault that the ground suddenly disappeared and a huge hole was there"

Even though her back was facing me I knew she would be smirking, this girl had to be the strangest person I had ever met.

"Must have taken them ages to get out" she giggled "but enough about me, we were talking about you"

"I don't want to..."

"Talk about it? Yeah I know you said that already... I know how about this for every fish I catch I get to ask you a question and you have to answer with %100 truth, deal? Oh that reminds me, you will need a basket"

I felt the earth grumbling below my feet then some rock came busting out covering me in water, I heard her laughing, even without seeing she knew what happened to me. I looked to where the rock was and saw a bowl shape on top with some water in it, I looked towards her and saw that she had one to, I guessed this was where I was supposed to put the fish once I caught them.

"Put the fish you catch in there, and don't forget, you have to catch lots of fish if you don't want to cook me lunch"

Somehow without my consent I was now involved in two deals one to cook her lunch and the other to tell her my life story and I didn't like the sound of either of them, I was starting to think this girl was my punishment. The water started to flow a little faster and I could hear the sound of rushing water all around me.

"They're coming" she called out

The rumbling got louder and louder, it sounded like a huge wave but from what she had been saying this was gentle, calm waters besides how was I meant to catch a fish if it was rough waters? I was wrong about the gentle calm water, there was a huge wave and it came crashing over us, I had to hold onto the rock pedestal to keep myself from being carried away but once the wave was gone I could hear nothing, I half expected her to be laughing but it was completely silent.

I was going to call out to her to see if she was ok but then I saw some things shining in the distance, they got closer and closer towards us, they moved fairly slow and they didn't look too big. I was too mesmerized by the glowing things I didn't say a word, it wasn't until one was right at my feet did I see it was a fish.

"_Glowing fish?"_

I looked up and saw her catching one and throwing it into her bowl, who knows how many she had already caught so I got to work. She was right, they were slow but when they sensed any movement they could be on the other side of the water in an instant. After what felt like hours there wasn't a fish to be seen, I had managed to catch 5 of them and from how many I saw slip past her I had no doubt that I won.

"So... the fish glow?"

"Yeah, on the surface they don't glow, their just like any other fish but down here for some reason they do. I guess it's like those rocks up there, in the sun their light can't be seen but in the dark they shine like stars"

She started to walk towards the shore so I followed after her, I expected the ground and our stuff to be soaked but they had somehow managed to stay completely dry.

"Well let's see who won shall we?"

She turned towards the water and called both the bowls towards her, I walked closer towards her so I could see how many she caught only to see more then I could count.

"But how...?"

"The fish has to choose you, you don't chose the fish"

"That makes no sense"

"Well we don't need this many so I guess we will but mine back, your 5 will be plenty and this way we can count how many questions I get"

She took the bowl to the water's edge and slowly started counting as she placed each fish carefully into the water, while she was doing that I desperately thought of a way to get out of this.

"9 questions!" she shouted rather loud

"Wait, I caught 5 fish so shouldn't that be subtracted from how many you caught?"

"That makes sense... so its 4 questions then, I can live with that, there's really only one I want to know anyway"

She picked up her clothes then walked over to me bringing the bowl with her; once we were close she lifted us up to the roof and through the ground and back into her house.


	2. Chapter 2

It was still pitch black outside but at least it sounded like the rain has eased off a bit.

"Would you mind lighting the room? You're a bit taller than me and a fire bender so it should be easier for you"

"Where are the candles?"

"There on the roof, just make some fire and look up, you will see them, I'm going to get changed out of my wet clothes"

She walked away and I made a small flame and looked up, there were bowls hanging from the ceiling. I looked around wondering how I was meant to get up that high, I may be taller than her but I wasn't that tall. Not seeing any other choice I aimed and shot a small fire ball into the bowl, the second it hit it lit up lighting nearly the whole room. I found another one in the kitchen and another above where we eat.

"Thank you, I found some pants that should fit you if you want, would hate for you to get sick from sitting in wet pants"

I nodded my head and went into the room she was just in, the light in here had already been lit so I could see fine. The pants were lying over her bed; they were similar to what I had on so I didn't see the harm in wearing them until mine dried. I put them on, they were a little short for my liking but it would do for now.

"Thanks" I muttered

"You're welcome, well come on let's get started, you have to cook me lunch"

Despite the deal she had made she still ended up helping me clean the fish and helped me cook it but I did have to do most of the work and well I wasn't very good at carving up these strange vegetables.

"Maybe it would have been safer for me to cook lunch" she laughed watching me

"What are these things anyway?" I grumbled

"Their called yematos, you have to be careful with them, try and just slice them in half and they will lose all the stuff inside but if your careful and take your time then it will be perfect" she explained taking the knife from me

She slowly and carefully sliced the yemato perfectly and placed all the pieces into the pot.

"How about you light the stove and ill finish this?" she offered with a smile

I nodded and opened the stove then blasted a fire ball in there, this I knew I could do. By the time I had gotten the fire nice and hot she had finished cutting everything and had placed it all into the pot.

"now all you have to do is mix that until it's all mushy then put the fish in it and lastly cover it in the crumbs there and then I'll do the rest" she explained sitting down "so about those questions... I have one"

"Just one?" I asked hopeful

"Don't worry ill think of more, ok first one is what happened to your uncle? I expected him to be with you... I was surprised he wasn't, made it harder to recognize you"

"We went our separate ways"

"Oh... that's a shame, I always imaged meeting you two, sounded like it would be a lot of fun... well second question what was it like living in a palace?"

"What?"

"I mean did you get people waiting on you? Brining you whatever you wanted? Stuff like that"

"I don't know, Azula got whatever she wanted but I mostly had to get things myself, she was always the favourite but still I had is a lot easy then most others in the world"

"I always try not to judge people but I don't think I like your sister"

"You wouldn't, she would kill you in a heartbeat"

"Just for being an earth bender?"

"Because your kind"

"_These questions aren't too bad"_

"Whoever know being kind would be a bad thing" she giggled "ok now this question is kind of personal so I hope you don't mind... if there was one thing in your past that you could change what would it be?"

"Speaking out in the war meeting, that was easy"

"Are you sure? I mean is that really what you want most of all?"

"Of course, if it wasn't for that moment I would still be respected and have my honour"

"That's true but would things really be that different? Isn't there anything else you want?"

"_Anything else I want? Like what?"_

I thought about it for a while but couldn't grasp what she was trying to tell me so I gave up and just demanded that she tell me what she was thinking.

"Well what about your uncle? Wouldn't you want to change what ever made you two split up? Like finding the avatar, as far as I know things were pretty good until you found him. Or maybe your father never becoming fire lord, then you could have had a family"

"Family... My mother"

"Huh?"

"I would change my mother's disappearance"

"Now that sounds like something worth changing" she smiled "I would rather have family then all the riches in the world... but that's just me"

"What's your last question" I grumbled wanting it to be over

"Do you really think capturing the avatar will give you back your honour and everything you have lost?"

I was taken back by that question, all her other ones were about my life back at the palace so I expected something else like that but instead she mentions the avatar.

"Of course it will"

"I'm not so sure... I don't think honour is something that can be given"

"You sound like my uncle"

"He is a wise man, Zuko I don't think you're meant to capture the avatar. If you were you have done it already, I think you're meant to do something else instead"

"Like what? Help him?" I scoffed

"Maybe, who knows, have you ever helped him before? Saved his life?"

"I'm not answering any more of your questions"

"Zuko your father sent you out to capture him for a reason so you would never return, he was meant to be dead. You're not going to regain your honour by capturing him; you will be welcome back in the fire nation but..."

"My father will welcome be back with honour!"

"I hope your right Zuko... I really do"

Things were silent between us all through lunch then after she cleared the table and started cleaning, I on the other hand just stayed sitting at the table praying for this day to end.

"So what do you want to do now?"

I just grumbled in response, I wasn't in the mood for any of her games.

"... you know if you want... to make up for everything you can ask me 3 questions"

"Why only 3?"

"Hey I'm being nice letting you have more than one"

"It doesn't matter; I have nothing I want to ask you"

"Really? Nothing at all? You can't even think of one little thing you don't know?"

"No"

"You're not very bright are you?"

"What is that supposed to mean" I growled

"Oh nothing, I'm sure you will figure it out, I'm going to go feed your ostrich horse, I'll be back in a second"

She walked outside into the dark and I stayed inside thinking about what she could have meant, she had already nearly told me her life story. I thought about everything she had told me and wondered what it might be that I didn't already know, by the time she had come back inside I could only think of one thing.

"Hey, how do you know so much about me?"

"Fire nation soldiers, I work at a bar and a lot of fire nation soldiers come through and get rather drunk and I ask them about you"

"You work in a bar? Aren't you a bit young?"

"I'm their... protector in a way"

"You're lying"

"The owner knows I'm an earth bender and when the fire nation soldiers come to town I go there to keep an eye on them while the town's people try and break the other earth benders free"

"But you said you don't fight"

"I don't but there are other people with me who do, all I have to do is make sure they can't leave but that's only happened a few times and they have been that drunk they don't remember the night before hand anyway"

"How old are you?"

"18"

"Yeah right"

She glared at me then sighed with a smile "ok I'm only 16 but don't tell anyone that, it's a secret you see" she winked

"Wait that means you have been on your own since you were 9"

"8 actually, so last question, think of anything else you want to know?"

"Yeah actually"

"Really?" she asked excited

"Why would you be asking about me?"

"Is that it?"

She seemed almost disappointed, I had no idea what she was expecting, what else was I supposed to ask her?

"Well" she sighed sitting down "I guess it started when you were banished, you became 'the banished prince' to me it just sounded like some kind of story. I had been on my own for 5 years and things were boring for me, when I was with my new parents we used to travel around, sometimes underground and sometimes above ground but we always used to tell each other stories and have lots of fun. I tried traveling on my own but it just wasn't as fun, that's why I settled down out here but then once I heard about you I saw a chance to have a small piece of what I missed so much.

"your life seemed to be exciting... as I got to know more about you I realised that wasn't really the case but I loved to hear about you, it reminded me of the times my family would sit around a camp fire and tell stories but as I heard more and more you became real to me and I started to wonder what you were really like and not what you were like from these stories... I guess you could say I asked about you because I just wanted to hear stories and your one was perfect"

"A story?"

"Yeah, best thing about yours is I have no idea how it will end, will you capture the avatar and return home with honour or will it be an empty place where you don't belong anymore? Oh and of course there is the chance that you won't captor him, then what happens? And your sister, what is she going to do? There are so many possibilities"

"I think you should get out of your house more" I said a little concerned

"Heh probably" she laughed standing "but still it's not just me, everyone in the world is wondering how all this will turn out"

We spent the rest of the afternoon talking about things that seemed completely stupid and were not possible but she seemed happy talking about these kinds of things so I let her. A few times she would hint about the one thing I was meant to ask her but I still don't know what she is talking about so I just ignore it now. Sometime after dinner she started to yawn so I suggested that we get to sleep, not that I knew where I was sleeping but I was fine with anything after all I was used to sleeping on the hard floor.

"You can share my bed; there is heaps of room for the both of us"

"What?"

"Don't worry I don't bite or anything" she giggled walking towards her room "well you coming?"

"I'll just sleep out here"

"There's no way I'm letting the prince sleep on the cold hard ground when I have a nice bed"

I had learnt that it was best not to disagree with her, despite how childish she seemed she was actually fairly strong so against my will I stood up and followed her. we fell asleep with our backs facing each other but when I woke up in the morning she was laying on one of my arms and my other arm was placed gently on her waist holding her and her. I pulled myself away falling onto the floor then causing a loud bang making her wake up.

"What's going on?" she asked rubbing her eyes

I glared at her silently from the floor for a few seconds before picking myself up "I should be leaving"

"I'll make you something to eat" she yawned stumbling out of bed

Once she was out of the room I sat down on her bed trying to forget what just happened, I got changed into my own clothes and was ready to leave. We ate breakfast in silence, it wasn't that unusual for me to be silent but from what I had learnt about her it was strange.

"You ok?" I asked despite my head telling me not to

"I was just thinking..."

"About?"

"You"

"What about me?"

"How you have yet to ask my name" she grinned looking up at me

"What? I did..." I thought about it for a few seconds and realised she was right; I had yet to once ask her name "so that's what you were going on about yesterday"

"Yeah but you just didn't get the hint did you" she giggled

"Well then, what is your name?"

"Not telling"

"What! Why would you point it out just to not tell me?"

"It's punishment for not thinking of it yesterday"

By the time I was all packed and ready to leave she still hadn't told me her name, that's when I got an idea.

"If you tell me your name I'll let you ask something else about me"

"Is my name that important to you, up till 10 minutes ago you didn't even notice?"

I couldn't stop myself from growling, it bugged me not knowing.

"Ok, ok no need to burn down the forest again" she chuckled "do you have a girlfriend?"

"Wha.. No, of course not! I don't have time for such a thing!" I shouted

She started laughing at me so I grabbed hold of my ostrich horse and walked away, I wasn't that far away, I could still hear her laughing in the background but she stopped then called out my name. I turned around to face her, I couldn't make out her facial features anymore but I could still hear her clearly.

"Kalah"

Before I had time to question it her whole house vanished into the ground, I rubbed my eyes then looked up again and sure enough the house was gone.

"thankyou Kahla" I said with a quick bow

**The End**


End file.
